Bass River State Park

Brian: Another aspect of cities vs. camping is that we wake up freezing…

Nick: …and terrified…

Brian: …bear-ified?...

Nick: …nice…

Brian: …regardless of the precautions we take. Nick and I hopped into the car and traveled to the ranger’s office to register our site and purchase some wood. We were unfortunately informed that one may only have a fire until 10 am and after 4 pm. Our campsite was so isolated that not a single ranger came by to check on us, but we decided to follow the rules anyway and spend the day hiking.

Nick: In attempt to purge my body of the evils of excessive alcohol, diner food, and Double-Downs, I opted to skip breakfast and lunch and instead consume a gallon of water. I was sort of going for a digestive reset button. I’ve had worse ideas. The hike rocked. We had the whole huge park to ourselves, and the trails were long enough to satisfy our lust for adventure and a good cardio workout. And now a cautionary note to readers: Sometimes signs that denote a pink path fade and therefore seem to denote a white path. Conversely, red signs fade and denote pink paths. Finally, lazy park rangers will occasionally forget to post a pink sticker over the white path marker.

Brian: We got lost.

Nick: More than once.

Brian: Not always in the park.

Nick: But we made it back, and despite some blistering pain in my feet from hiking shoes that were a touch small-

Brian: And cramped muscles that haven’t been used in a month-

Nick: It was a very pleasant experience. A game of Jambo, which as we all know is the game for clever merchants, followed by a game of Scrabble preceded a warm fire which, after all our experience, was perfectly crafted in regards to heat, light production, and overall awesomeness.

Brian: We lit it at 3:53 pm, slightly bending the not-so-strictly enforced 4 o’ clock cutoff rule. Our wood was burning quickly so I chopped a nearby stump in half with our hatchet for extra fuel. Check out me with the head of my kill.

Nick: All and all, the day and a half in Bass River State Forest went by too quickly for my taste. As soon as we find ourselves some fresh ketchup and mustard (ours have gone horribly, horribly bad) and perhaps a decent whittling knife, I think we’ll pretty much have the camping down to a science. That’s all for today. Hopefully tomorrow morning will be a little less frigid. Tonight, I sleep with sweatshirt and sweatpants. Brian and Nick out.